John Oliver Took The Parasitic Payday Loan Industry To The Woodshed On ‘Last Week Tonight’

Back when I was in college and desperate for money, I took out a payday loan — maybe even two, I can’t recall exactly, it’s all a bit of a fog now. But I do remember that the loan (or loans) was for $100 and I wound up having to pay back something like $300. So yeah, my personal opinion of payday loan operations has always been a little divided — on the one hand I was provided with some quick, easy relief so I could feed myself for a few days, but on the other hand I feel like I was fleeced at a time when I was arguably most vulnerable: when I was dead broke.

That said, it’s hard to feel any sympathy at all for the industry after watching the Last Week Tonight clip embedded above. As Oliver points out, what they do is essentially legalized loan-sharking, with the industry well-protected by shady lobbyists and politicians who have no qualms about appearances or conflicts of interest. Finally, Sarah Silverman comes in near the end of the segment to remind anyone thinking of taking out a payday loan why it’s a terrible idea. Enjoy.

It’s easy for a rich talentless whore like Silverman to say you should do anything other than go to Kwik Kash, but when it’s Tuesday morning and the bookie is on his way most of us can’t just open our legs in lieu of non payment.

pete, you don’t have to spread your legs, you just have to bend over. obviously you’re a “bottom” because your misogyny points to small penis syndrome and that’s not going to earn you any cash as a “top.” so lift that shirt and touch your toes and you can carry on your pathetic, grubby little existence knowing that finally you have found your true place in the world; a worthless cum dump for desperate closeted gays, too ugly to find relief in more conventional ways.. have fun ratso rizzo.

@Otto Man Found a great article from 2011 that really goes into how shady White, the head of Cash America, is and of course his connections to Perry. Part of it makes me wish I still lived in Texas so I could go to the yearly public meeting the TFC has and boo that man.
Anyway, here’s the article if you’re interested.[www.texasobserver.org]

Haven’t seen Oliver’s piece yet but looking forward to it. Payday lending isn’t quite as black and white as most people make it out to be however. My company was working with a bank that was contemplating getting into the business and I actually asked off of the project because I didn’t want to be associated with the practice.

I told this to a friend of mine who works for a non-profit that studies, among many other things, the economics of the working poor. They actually pointed me to a few studies of how pay-day lending is helpful in certain situations, and legitimate operations, however shitty the terms are, can be a far safer alternative than going outside the market.

You should watch the piece because literally anything else is better than a payday loan. It should be the last of last resorts, because they want to trap you in a never ending cycle of owing them money you never get out of.

I didn’t enjoy the piece, because the whole time I was wondering what his call to action would be. Payday loans are something that we all know are bad and I was curious how he would suggest we get rid of them or point at someone to blame. Instead he had Sarah Silverman tell us to rob grocery stores…Wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping for.

Looking back, wish he would have went harder on Montell Williams. Not just a joke or two that he did, but five minutes of making him look like the scum of the Earth that he is. He is basically making money off of ruining people’s lives and while there are tons of people who do this, most of them aren’t recognizable celebrities using what little fame they have, to do it. Could have ended with a celebrity montage of people again, calling for Montell to never work again. Maybe going as far as saying they would never work with anyone who hires him again.

I have to agree. I normally think his pieces are brilliant. However this one was severely lacking in payoff. The Texas stuff was great, but this was pretty lacking compared to most of his stuff. I think the major problem is people know payday loans are shitty, but use them anyways. That seems to be the only solution.

Actually, because then there would be no loans to poor people, ever. There was a non-profit (I think it was in Chicago), who looked into creating a non-profit payday loan system for, well, the poor people who have to use them. The normal interest rate for payday loans is annualized to something like 2200% — and for the non-profit to stay operating, they’d have to charge something like 1600% and still rely on donations for operating costs. The default rate is so flipping high and the loans are unsecured, so if they didn’t charge those enormous interest rates to the few people who pay them back, they’d go out of business in a month.

Whatever happened to giving your business to local Mom-and-Pop loan sharks? I mean, you could buy a little time by giving them some of your momma’s delicious cannoli, or let Vinnie the Bull shtup your sister in exchange for a reduction in the vig. Try that with Kwik Kash and see where it gets you. Damn soulless corporations!

Not sure if he’s reaching the target audience on this one. Not sure how many payday loan patrons have HBO or would watch a white British guy (I know he’s a citizen now, he still talks like them though) tell them how bad they are.

Uh, the affluent liberal voters actually have the money and time to write or influence their elected officials to look out for this kind of crap. Poor people are too busy trying to make ends meet to try and use the political route. It’s the perfect target audience.

I like how these lengthy investigative segments seem to be getting longer and not shorter. I really do look forward to seeing who he tackles in depth each week now. Somehow they’ve structured these pieces in a way where I never get bored by them too.

I still think the show has a problem with how they end each episode though. The last skit is usually too weird or just falls flat.

Whatevs, this has taken the lead for my favorite satirical news show over The Daily Show and Colbert Report now. Helps that they don’t have stupid interviews promoting some bullshit too.

The whack-a-mole approach that Oliver speaks of is indeed unrealistic. What we can do, however is provide consumers with the tools they need to make informed financial choices: foster financial literacy and good budgeting habits.